Rabih Alameddine — The Penguin Book of the International Short Story - with Paxima Mojavezi

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Literary HubThe best in short fiction from around the world, from celebrated anthologist and author John Freeman and award-winning novelist Rabih AlameddineIn The Penguin Book of the International Short Story, writers from different nations, languages, and sensibilities come together in a globe-spanning and long overdue tour of modern fiction. In “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo,” Haruki Murakami brings us a man who believes a giant amphibian is enlisting him to protect his city from an impending earthquake. In “War of the Clowns,” Mozambique’s Mia Couto sketches a perfect allegory for our divided culture. In the predecessor story to her iconic novel The Vegetarian, Han Kang depicts a protagonist quietly undergoing an unlikely transformation. A Colm Tóibín character thinks, “I do not even believe in Ireland,” while Carol Bensimon reflects from Brazil, “All great ideas seem like bad ones at some point.” Salman Rushdie brings us to unsettled rural India, Olga Tokarczuk to an ugly woman exhibit at the circus, Abdellah Taïa to the queer Arab world, Ted Chiang to a far-off galaxy.The United States is far from the center of the literary universe. This anthology is reminiscent of iconic director Bong Joon Ho’s line about overcoming “the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” to enter a new world of film—the work of thoughtful and accomplished translators opens the door wide for those curious about what lies beyond the Western canon and classroom. Writers from six continents, ranging from new voices to literary icons, each offer a window into a distinct point of view, both transcending and illuminating their place of origin. They offer not only captivating prose, but a reminder of the power of the imagination across space and time.Rabih Alameddine has written nine books that have been translated into more than twenty languages. His most recent awards include the 2019 Dos Passos Prize, the 2021 Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, and the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He divides his time between his bedroom and his living room.Alameddine is in conversation with Paxima Mojavezi, an Iranian-American author and journalist. She has been writing short stories for nearly three decades, and four of her short story collections have been published in Persian since 2000. The story “Forty-Eight Steps” is one of the stories from her second book. She has also published two nonfiction booksPURCHASE:https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593834138?ic_referral=iALJlJDoo7xiPvFiIGdCD6HlkicS4YTc5VAezVYrrTcwM0S79NMRgPrsRwcxVrw9z2K8GfmBpbR_Gc51ZnPRlqDi8uqtNXYErksLv6m71B7oEalpGstZHBlQHSn638WRIbSgz2A